A blue bolt slammed into the hull of the Throne. Her shields had long since failed entirely. Vast swaths of her hull were in flames. Plasma fires were ravaging the hull. Huge rents pockmarked her armored plating while other sections were savagely twisted. By now the Krall had clearly spent their supply of spatial warheads on the massive ship. Doing a fair amount of damage in the process but nothing fatal. Regardless the ship was clearly dying.
Several plasma turrets spat deadly bolts back at the alien ship. Only for them to wash harmlessly over the armored hull of the battleship. Several arrays lit up before six sustained beams lashed out to tear into the Cathamari hull. Each beam burned deep into the hull slicing through entire sections. Bursts of flame followed in its wake as debris and atmosphere jetted out into space often passing through the plasma fires where it underwent flashing. It was a weirdly beautiful sight even as it hid the horrors of war.
As bad as the damage was, much of it remained confined to the outer sections of the hull. The core regions remained untouched so far but it was only a matter of time before the inner sections were breached.
Elsewhere a plasma beam sliced through a plasma manifold. A flash erupted as fuel ignited and a new set of plasma fires erupted. Elsewhere several thrusters went dark as the fuel leads had been severed. Without those thrusters, her ability to maneuver was drastically reduced. Elsewhere a particle beam sliced through several delicate systems including an auxiliary plasma feed. Superheated drive plasma erupted from the ruptured feed. Burning through several meters of plating and into a secondary plasma drive. Turning the entire assembly into a burned out husk. Clearly those engines were being targeted.
The woman turned away. She wasn’t happy about this but she wasn’t sure what she could do. ALL of the company cruisers in the system had been destroyed. Their local yards had not escaped the fires of this battle. Several Cathamari ships had slagged a number of slips from their orbital yards. Including the one that had been prepared for the Throne. She knew the Chief wasn’t going to be happy about this either. They had invested a lot of money and political capital in this endeavor. Only for it to be ruined by an alien battleship and a Krall cruiser. Why the Krall were even here was beyond her. The company made strides to avoid conflict with them. Anyone with a brain did. The Krall were one of the older and more powerful races this side of the galaxy. Although they were far from the oldest or most powerful.
Thankfully the sheer size of the Throne seemed to be working to its advantage. The ship was on fire with more holes in it than she cared to count and dozens of its systems had been slagged, but the vessel remained largely intact. In addition she had noted neither the alien battleship nor the Krall ship were firing torpedos into it. Perhaps they had run out of heavy ordnance? If so they might retreat soon to rearm. That might just give them a chance to use what few assets they had left in the system to recover the Throne. Recoup their losses. If she could do that, the fallout wouldn’t be as bad as losing the ship outright. Already a plan was slipping into place and with any luck those thorns in her butt would be leaving soon.
Tika shifted on the screen, “This is taking far longer than I thought it would.”
Countryman chuckled, “never borne witness to a duel between major combatants before have you?
She shook her head, “How can you tell?”
“These things can last days, especially after heavy ordinance has been expended and we are both out of torpedoes. Thankfully we still have options to speed things up.”
She frowned, “I take it you have been a duel like this before?”
“Thankfully no, but I am not unfamiliar with them. I witnessed one myself over 70 years ago when I was in command of a science vessel. The MFS Nebula to be specific. Good ship with some good stories but nothing worth talking about right now. In the meantime I’d like you to cover me, keep the vultures off me.”
Her frown deepened, “Cover you!!!?”
A male Krall leaned in and said, “Can do! What are planning?”
“Boarding action. We have knocked out her shields, most of her weapon mounts and her main drives. Now is a good time to try, she can’t defend against small craft and that means we can get a strike team on board.”
“Understood,” he said, “I presume that means opening your hanger to launch shuttles and given your lack of shields that would open you up to attack.”
“Our main hangers yes, the interior is armored yes but the exterior doors have much thicker armor than the interior. It won’t hold up as well.”
Tika frowned, “Um the ship is on fire. Doesn’t seem that smart to try and board a burning ship.”
“A few plasma fires yes, but they are largely confined to the rear sections. None of them have reached the core of the ship either. My operations officer has already identified nine seperate airlocks we can use to safely board the ship. The larger complication would be the Cathamari defenders.”
The male beside her nodded, “That sounds about right. I presume your plan is to plant charges near anything that might cause a secondary explosion.”
Countryman nodded, “Not quite. I do plan to plant charges, but I have another plan just in case. It will be quite the sight.”
“I see.”
The man nodded and turned to give orders. It seemed the plan was set.
Tika frowned, “What other plan?”
Countryman didn’t say. He merely closed the channel. Largely since he didn’t plan to draw any attention to the more... destructive applications of Rydium. Already one of the shuttles for the boarding party was being loaded with that defective crystal from his main drive. They had loaded into a casing rigged to be compatible with Cathamari power systems. Not only that but it was disguised to look like an ordinary Cathamari power distribution module. Once it was hooked up and turned on, the device would build to an overload. Unleashing a powerful shockwave that would rip the warship apart and any ship too close to the dreadnought along with it.
He turned to Misaki, who promptly reported, “The Teketh has moved into position. We are clear to launch.”
“Good. Inform the flight decks to begin deployment as we discussed earlier.”
“Aye, sir! Informing all squadrons that they are clear to launch.”
Two massive hangers slid open. Moments later several energy bursts marked the deployment of fighter craft. Small ships that quickly took up defensive positions as several cruisers moved into weapons range.
The first of which, a Cathamari vessel drew the attention of the Teketh. Her beam arrays glowed brightly before slicing into the ship with targeted plasma streams. Each one burned into the hull with deadly accuracy as the shields failed to fully protect from the deadly plasma streams. The beams slammed into the hull burning furrows into the armor. None of them did any significant damage but the Teketh wasn’t done. She unleashed a second volley moments later. This time tearing into delicate components as the damaged armor failed. The shields flickered and then buckled. The third set of beam hits tore right through the armor and breached a number of vital systems.
As that happened a second cruiser moved into range, attempting to line up for a torpedo volley. Only to be intercepted by a squadron of 1204s. Several torpedo launchers flashed and the cruiser was struck moments later. Her shield grids taking several damaging hits. The shields flickered and collapsed. Seconds later her hull was strafed. Numerous small particle bolts slammed into her armor. A moment later the Enterprise fired on the stricken cruiser four heavy anti ship bolts rippled out from a single gun mount. They slammed into the cruiser’s bow tearing through the armor like wet tissue. Entire compartments were breached as the bolts tore through them as if they weren’t there. Moments later violent blue energy burst out of the vessel’s stern. Moments before the vessel exploded.
Two more cruisers were entering range while the first shuttles accelerated off the deck and into the void. Neither cruiser lasted long against the defensive screen. Both of them were destroyed before they could get into position to fire on the open hanger bays. When the last shuttle was in the void the doors closed.
The young man rechecked his gear. They had done several checks already but he felt kind of useless here in the back of a 1205. There wasn’t much else to do until they reached the target.
For this mission, he had gone with his trusty XR-471, along with twelve grenades. Mostly Electro-Pulse grenades, as he quite liked them. Along with a couple of laser grenades and two Photon grenades. The Photon type worked much the same as Photon Torpedos.
In addition to the grenades, he was also bringing along two Photon Charges. Basically a larger version of the Photon grenade. Except the charge wasn’t meant to be thrown. Both of them featured a small laser-initiated fusion core. Once activated the core would undergo a rapid fusion reaction. The resulting reaction would trigger a cascade reaction in the casing resulting in a massive photonic burst. Anything in the blast radius would be outright vaporized. It could also be argued that Photon grenades were a little too powerful for a boarding operation and in most cases you would be right. They were usually used for ground actions as they were often powerful enough to blow holes in the hull of any spaceship, well any non-human spaceship anyway. He figured he’d toss one in a power conduit or something. On a timer of course.
Along with all the explosives he had four spare power packs for his rifle which gave him a total of five power packs. That meant he was carrying roughly 1200 shots. More than enough for this engagement. He hoped. It was hard to be sure how many Cathamari they would be facing once aboard but he wasn’t too worried. In addition to that he also had a standard-issue pistol with three power cells and a combat knife. That would be useful for close quarters. Furthermore, he was taking a spare power cell with which to recharge his armor if needed.
Satisfied with his gear, he looked over his fellow marines. They had crammed twenty-four marines aboard this shuttle alone. Along with supplies and a fair number of explosive charges for the mission. It helped that they weren’t taking a tank along with them. That fact gave more room for the pulse charge, a makeshift charge designed to mimic the effects of a starship’s self-destruct sequence. Something he remembered seeing before. He knew that most disabled ships were scuttled by their crews via a deliberate overload of the main engines rather than allow them to be captured during the war with the Cathamari. This pulse charge looked like a piece of Cathamari tech but it concealed a defective Rydium crystal mounted in a drive that was deliberately rigged to overload in the same manner. He was just glad that his squad wasn’t the one to carry that thing. That task was given to another poor squad. His was merely assigned to sabotage a couple of key power conduits and plant charges near several plasma capacitors.
Plasma capacitors in his opinion were a good target. Those devices stored compressed plasma which was fed into the ship’s main gun batteries. Gun batteries that were recently silenced by gun batteries on the Enterprise but the capacitors were intact along with the generators which produced the plasma. That meant these capacitors were likely full of plasma with nowhere to go. It would make for a nice secondary detonation after the charges went.
A light thump moments later let him know that they were docked. After a moment the signal was given and they rushed into a small hanger. Disembarking and joining up with the squads of several other shuttles. He never had to fire a shot as only a couple of technicians were in the room. Both shot by others. In seconds the entry points was secured and several HPL-400 positions were set up to defend their entry point. They would need to hold the hanger for their exit plan. His squad proceeded into the ship.
He scanned the corridor. It had been a couple of hours since they landed. So far resistance had been light and sporadic. It seemed they had caught the Cathamari defenders off gaurd. This had allowed many of them to reach their goals faster than planned.
Behind him the team’s combat engineer reported, “Alright charge is set.”
“Excellent! Team move out!”
He slipped into formation and took point. Keeping an eye out for threats. As they proceeded to their final objective. A secondary reactor module which supplied power to this deck. To be more specific they were going to plant a charge near the primary distrubution node a few meters from the reactor. As the reactor itself was expected to be heavily gaurded. Nothing a single squad couldn’t break but this mission was about speed. Attacking the reactor would take too long. At least that was what he was told in the brief.
Peeking around a corner he spotted a patrol. He signaled the squad. As they moved into position he scanned the patrol. There were twelve of the bastards. Four of them armed with Juggernaut Rifles, the others armed with Squealer Rifles. The Squealer was a lighter plasma rifle named for its distinct firing sound. It fired an unusual charged plasma pulse and was one of their deadlier weapons. Especially in close quarters. Then he took a second look at the Juggernauts and realized they were not the standard type, but the Juggernaught-Squealer Variant. That might be an issue. The other patrols hadn’t been so well equiped either.
He warned the others. As this patrol actually had weapons that could be a threat. Presuming they were actually allowed to score a few good hits that was.
Popping out of his position, he fired. Scoring a burst in the chest of the first Cathamari and in a smooth motion scoring a second burst in the lizard next to him. Both of them virtual disintergrated as the deadly particle rounds ripped right through their armor and flash vaporized their organs. Charred gore sprayed and surprised shouts echoed. As the Patrol dived for cover.
His buddy scored two more kills before the patrol was in cover. While someone else tossed a grenade down the corridor. It flashed and lightning bolts surged randomly around the chamber. After a moment they stormed the area. He scored one more kill but the grenade had killed most of them.
It was a rather easy fight and a poor showing for the Cathamari. He collected the spent grenade and they moved on. Reaching their target proved easy and aside from another patrol on the way back they made it to the ships without incident. As it turned out things went about the same for the other strike teams. Although there was a brief counterattack on the bays where the ships had landed but it was easily repulsed without casualities.
Tika glanced at the plots as the human shuttles were returning. When her sensor officer reported, “I am picking up a massive graviton surge on the Throne.”
She blinked, “Wait what? What kind of surge?”
“I’m not sure but the signiture is nearly identical to that of the Enterprise’s main drives.” she frowned, “Whatever it is, I think its building towards an overload.”
Tika wasn’t sure what to think but moments later she recieved a hail from the Enterprise. She put on screen and Countryman immediately began speaking, “I presume you have dtected the energy build up on the Throne?”
“I have, she replied.
“Good, we should be safe at this distance, but the fireworks are going to be something special. I recommend you increase power to the shields just in case. I have already ordered additional power to the hull plating.”
She nodded, glanced at her screens and then asked, “How long?”
“Five minutes, maybe ten at the most. Its hard to say for certain.”
Tika acknoledged and then turned to give orders. As Countryman closed the channel. Idly she noted the Enterprise reorientate for the first time she was pointing her entire ventral side to the Throne. That struck her as odd as that exposed much more hull area than angling her port or starboard. She barely even noticed as the Enterprise’s shuttles and fighters took shelter above the ship.
Then the boom happened. In an instant a series of detonations wrached the Throne. Followed by a massive shock pulse which shatterd her starframe. Flinging large chuncks of flaming debris into space as she was ripped apart. The pulse disappated before it reached them but debris and superheated plasma rained down on their positions. The shields held and the Enterprise held up against the barrage as well. Her plating recieving only a few minor scratches. Nothing breached the hull. In a moment the dying dreadnought was gone. Nothing was left of it but burning mangled debris. Elsewhere the fighting was dying out as surviving Cathamari ships were fleeing the system. A few Valorian ships were still shooting at each other, but it was clear the battle was nearly over. It was time to leave but she had a feeling there was going to be fallout from this incident. A lot of it.
